


Love and Hyperspace

by ThermidorValkyrie



Category: Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic (Video Games)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:55:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25497184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThermidorValkyrie/pseuds/ThermidorValkyrie
Summary: This story is loosely based on the scene in A New Hope where Luke is working on Artoo and uncovers a recorded message from Princess Leia. This time, Bao finds a recording accidentally made by the Exile containing some very interesting information.
Relationships: Bao-Dur/Female Jedi Exile
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	Love and Hyperspace

Bao-Dur kneeled on the floor of the _Ebon Hawk_ ’s cargo hold, his arms elbow-deep in T3’s interior. Wiring stuck out in every direction, and every so often the droid gave a harsh beep of annoyance.

“Sorry about that, little guy” the Iridonian said in his quiet, consoling way. “Didn’t mean to prod your behavior core like that.” T3 whistled in irritation but didn’t seem inclined to offer further complaint.

“Now, let’s see,” Bao-Dur murmured to himself. It was a habit he had picked up talking to his remote. “If I disconnect this capacitor from the circuit, that should optimize power flow to your primary motivator…” A sudden jolt of electricity pulsed through the wires and knocked the Iridonian to the floor. Heaving himself up on one elbow, he rubbed the back of his horned head in irritation. “Well that shouldn’t have…”

His words were cut short by a hologram projected from T3’s center eye. “Huh, must have rerouted power to the memory core,” he observed, moving to reconnect the capacitor. And then he noticed what the hologram was.

Projected onto the floor of the _Hawk_ , in grainy, blue-green light, was Arken, bent over with her hands extended in front of her. Her fingers moved deftly through unknown patterns and her face was scrunched in extreme concentration. Bao realized that this was a recording of her working on T3.

“Sorry about that, little guy” she said. Bao smiled – sometimes he could swear that the two of them shared the same mind. “Did that hurt?” A series of beeps responded. Arken laughed, and despite the poor quality of the recording her voice sounded like music to Bao. “I know. Well, perhaps I should ask Bao to finish repairing you. He'll do a better job than me.” She leaned back on her heels and wiped her greasy hands on a rag. Watching her, Bao became entranced by details of her image. Her breathing was soft but husky and her damp hair clung to the back of her neck. Though she wore her knee-high boots and loose trousers as always, she had abandoned her thick Jedi robes for a form-fitting camisole. Bao couldn’t stop his eyes from following the delicate line of her neck down to the soft curves of her breasts and hips.

“Best thing that ever happened to us, running into him on Telos,” she was saying quietly. Her eyes glazed over and she smiled to herself, a private smile of some remembered secret. “When I first saw him I thought I was back on Malachor. Strange – I never actually got to speak to him, after the Mass Shadow Generator was activated. I was knocked out by a falling beam and woke up two weeks later in a Republic hospital. By then, he had resigned his commission and moved on.” As she spoke, her smile slipped and the line of her jaw grew hard and grim. “I never got to find out if he was okay.”

There were more beeps, and the coldness that had built up in Arken melted instantly. She laughed, a glad laugh that brought to mind summer and homelands. Bao thought it might be his favorite sound in the galaxy. “You’re right, T3,” Arken replied. “I guess I did get to find out.” She was silent for a moment, idly twisting the rag between her hands. Gradually, the light faded from her face, not as if it was lost but as if she was drawing it into herself, for there remained a brilliant sparkle in her eyes. When she spoke again, her voice was little more than a whisper, and filled with an intense kind of wonder.

“Can droids fall in love, T3?” she asked, but she didn’t wait for a response. “I’ve always been told that you can’t. But then, I’ve always been told that Jedi can’t, either, and I’ve discovered that to be absolutely false.” She looked in what Bao assumed to be T3’s direction, and the Iridonian saw that her eyes were glistening. “I hope for your sake that droids can love, T3, because it is a most magnificent feeling.” Dropping the rag to the floor, she rose slowly to her feet. She reached out a hand, and then the hologram flickered out of existence.

Bao sat for a moment without moving, his entire mind focused on the task of continuing to breathe. He had just seen the General… Arken… more or less admit to loving him. He was not known for his skill with words, and had he been asked to describe how he felt at that moment the most apt description he could have come up with was that it was something like being sliced open with a lightsaber, but in a good way. His skin felt feverish all over, and there was an acute, burning pain deep in his chest.

_She loves me_ , he thought with a mixture of awe and anguish. _She loves me_. And suddenly he could contain his emotion no longer. Jumping to his feet, he bolted from the room, leaving T3 beeping frantically in confusion, wires still loose.

Coming to the medical bay, Bao paused only long enough to ascertain that Arken wasn’t there. He continued at breakneck pace through the main hold (knocking Mandalore aside rather rudely), past the security room, and into the cockpit. From where he sat at the _Ebon Hawk_ ’s controls, Atton glanced casually over his shoulder at the Zabrak.

“Hey Bao,” he said, his eyes drooping. “Where ya going?” Bao-Dur didn’t halt long enough to respond. Turning, he raced back along the hall.

There were only two places left that she could be, and he prayed desperately that she wasn’t in the starboard dormitory meditating with Kreia. He didn’t want to have this conversation in front of the old woman, though her presence wasn’t going to deter him. But it wouldn’t hurt to check the port dormitory first anyway.

As he rounded the corner into the dormitory, his heavy boots preventing him from sliding on the slick floor despite his prodigious speed, he saw that Arken was indeed there. She faced away from him, pulling on her dark outer robe over her pale cream-colored tunic. At the sound of his frenzied footsteps, she turned.

The image of her, standing there, illuminated by the blue phosphorescent glow of hyperspace, would forever be indelibly etched in the most hallowed part of Bao-Dur’s mind. Her back was straight, her head tilted slightly to the right, as if in inquiry. Her face was serene, but seeing him, her cerulean eyes brightened and her lips parted in a delighted smile. “Bao, I thought you were working on – “ Her words were cut off as he took her in his arms, lifting her up from the floor and clutching her to his chest.

“I love you,” he murmured, his face buried in her soft hair. Emotion sharpened his usually soft voice, and there was a catch to his breathing. “I know I’m not the only one, and I know I have no right to, but I love you nonetheless.” He felt her lungs constrict beneath him in a sudden intake of breath, and then she began to sob deep, wracking sobs that seemed to come from the very core of her soul. Arken’s arms tightened around his neck until he could barely breathe, but he didn’t say anything. The thought of her letting go was far more painful. Her hands moved fitfully over the back of his head and his horns, trying to take in as much of him as possible.

“I love you too,” she wept, and though Bao hated to hear her cry he could not help but cherish these tears. “My heart has been yours since you saved me from the flames on Telos.” Bao felt answering tears well up in his eyes as he pressed his lips to hers.


End file.
